Fun with fused glassExploring different media flexes design muscles
by Cathy Jakicic
Published: September 2, 2011
The BeadStyle
staff took a creative field trip in June to Glaze, a pottery painting
studio in Thiensville, Wis., that also offered glass fusing and metal
clay options. It was a great way to stretch our design muscles in a
different way and take a breather after the busy Bead&Button Show.
We originally planned to make pendants, but as our individual muses took
hold, we ended up with two pendants and ornament and a barrette. We had
a great time playing with the wide range of colors and shapes
available.
|
|
Kelsey:
I wanted something bright and fun to wear in my hair, so I went for a
striped barrette instead of a pendant. I used skinny strips of glass
layered on top of wider strips — I think layering the glass pieces was
the most entertaining part of the process. In the end, I got the
stick-straight, striped effect I wanted — though the colors changed a
bit in the fusing process.
|
Jane: The process of glass fusing at Glaze was pretty straightforward. Most of the pieces were pre-cut and displayed imaginatively. I used a tool to score and cut a few pieces of glass to fit my piece, and that was fun (as using new tools usually is). But for the most part, all I had to do was arrange glass pieces together to form a design. My favorite piece was Naomi’s cupcake ornament. The best part of the adventure was spending casual time with Kelsey, Cathy, and Naomi.
|
Naomi: I knew I wanted to make an ornament, and my first thought was to do a holiday tree with little decorations. But then I found the brown glass trapezoid and thought it looked like a cupcake liner.
We learned how to score and break glass, so I did that on a white piece to make the top of the cupcake.
I broke brown glass strings to add texture to the cupcake liner and bright-colored ones for sprinkles. I also used glass powder and sprayed the whole thing with hairspray before it went in the kiln. Even though some of the glass powder migrated to the background, I’m pretty happy with the way the piece turned out.
And yes, the cherry is supposed to be lopsided!
|
|
Cathy: I used
powdered glass on my pendent and really enjoyed mixing and arranging the
colors in a flowing pattern. The "edges" of my mosaic weren't as crisp
as they would have been if it had used glass pieces instead of powder,
but I couldn't resist the moss aquamarine-colored glass and I could only
find it in the powder form. I'm happy with my finished pendant, but
still can't decide whether the last-minute addition of a few contracting
dots of orange were a good idea or not. I wish my hair was long enough
to borrow Kelsey's barrette.
|
|